News and press releases

ANKARA, 25 June 2018 – Voters had a genuine choice in the 24 June early presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey, but the conditions for campaigning were not equal, with the incumbent president and ruling party enjoying an undue advantage, including in excessive coverage by government-affiliated public and private media outlets, the international observers concluded in a preliminary statement today...

COPENHAGEN, 19 June 2018 – Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s human rights committee, today criticized the U.S. government’s violation of human rights and humanitarian standards in its treatment of migrants – and especially migrant children – attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border...

COPENHAGEN, 18 June 2018 – Welcoming the signing on Sunday of an agreement between Athens and Skopje over a long-running name dispute between the two OSCE countries, OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President George Tsereteli (MP, Georgia) today congratulated the governments for taking a major step forward in resolving the disagreement. He thanked the mediators for their work, congratulated Prime Ministers Alexis Tsipras and Zoran Zaev for their leadership, and expressed hope for next steps to be taken to speedily put this agreement in practice...

BELGRADE, 12 June 2018 – Improvements in the accommodation of migrants and refugees in Serbia have been welcomed by a delegation led by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Nahima Lanjri (MP, Belgium), with parliamentarians noting that other OSCE countries can learn from these positive developments. They pointed out however that Serbia’s capacity needs to be expanded and adapted to fully meet the needs of unaccompanied minors...

SARAJEVO, 7 June 2018 – Members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Countering Terrorism (CCT) today concluded a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where they learned more about local and regional challenges in countering terrorism and violent extremism. In Sarajevo on Wednesday, members met with colleagues from the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, the OSCE Mission to BiH, civil society, government ministries, and law enforcement officers to exchange best practices and promote the role of parliamentarians in the field of counter-terrorism...

ISTANBUL, 5 June 2018 – Ignacio Sanchez Amor (MP, Spain), the Special Co-ordinator of the short-term OSCE observer mission to the early parliamentary and presidential elections taking place in Turkey later this month, today wrapped up a visit to Istanbul where he has met with representatives of political parties, NGOs, analysts, and journalists.

COPENHAGEN, 5 June 2018 – Chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration Nahima Lanjri raised concerns today over reports in the United States that young migrant children are being separated from parents trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, as well as recent news that nearly 1,500 migrant children are unaccounted for in the U.S. due to lax monitoring by the federal government...